Hallow's Spectrum
by Samuel B. Foster
Summary: There's always time for one last party...
1. Preparations

Hallow's Spectrum

By Samuel B. Foster

Chapter 1: Preparations

The City of Townsville. Where there are just seven days left to count down for the little tikes of Pokey Oaks. The spooky decorations of ghastly ghosts and goblins are risen on every house to haunt and hype the children for the big night where every boy and girl shall trick or treat until the midnight hour. However, no child in Townsville is anticipating such a celebration more than the Powerpuff Girls.

Blossom was in her room at her desk looking at costume designs for her sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup. She slouched in exhaustion and stared at the ceiling. "Why did they have to wait until the last minute?" She sighed getting a little frustrated. Buttercup walks in and see Blossom still slouching. "Hey Blossom," Buttercup started, "Are you finished yet with our costumes?" Blossom sighed again. "Do you think I'm finished after the millionth time you've asked me? What do you think?"

"Uhhh… Yes?"

"No! For the millionth plus one time, no!"

"Whoa, Blossom, chill!"

"I mean seriously. You and Bubbles had to wait until the last minute to decide what you want to wear when I was already planning mine about a month prior. But not only that, but there's also fitting and at last crafting."

"Technically, we have a week for the costumes to be ready. You have plenty of time."

"Oh really? Then what happens when you change your mind on what to wear? Again?"

"What? I thought I look cooler as Commando Beefy Betty."

"That's what you said the last time for that ninja monster f or what it's called."

"For the last time, it's Super Ninja Kaiju X."

"I don't care! Commando Beefy Betty is what you want and that's what you're going to wear for Halloween."

"Fine!"

Buttercup begins to leave the room when a devilish smirk runs across her face as she reaches for the door. "Actually…" Buttercup started. Blossom quickly turns to her as the flame within her begins to grow. "Don't even think about it." Blossom replied sternly.

"I've been thinking…"

"I'm warning you!"

"I think I want to go back to Super Ninja Kaiju X. What do you think?"

"That's it! I've had enough of this! If you want your ideas made, then do you them yourself! Let's see how you deal with designing, fitting and sewing. Would like that?"

"Alright. Commando Beefy Betty it is."

"That's what I thought. Now leave me alone, I wasted enough time dealing with your little antics."

Buttercup decided to head into the living room where Bubbles was sitting there on the couch watching television. "Found anything good, yet?" Buttercup asked. "Nope." Bubbles replied as she flipped through the stations. "Oh wait! What about Space Tow Truck? That never fails to entertain us." Buttercup shook her head in approval as she slouched on the couch. Episode after episode played, hour after hour went passed, and the girls become more and more sleepy until they were just about to doze off. Suddenly, the Professor came into the living room, which snapped the girls back into reality. "Girls! Time for dinner." "Just a second, Professor." Blossom replied from upstairs. The Professor then noticed the other two rubbing their eyes and slowing getting off the couch. "Oh dear. Perhaps I should set your bedtime a little earlier." Professor chuckled as they all went to the kitchen.

The girls and the Professor began to enjoy their dinner when Blossom walked in looking exhausted as well. The Professor looked with concern as Blossom slouched at the kitchen and began to eat. "What's the matter, Blossom?" The Professor asked, "Are you feeling alright?" Blossom seemed to have zoned out but then came back to reality. "What? Oh, yes. I'm fine. I've just been working all day working on Buttercup's costume, again." "I just couldn't decide," Buttercup argued. Bubbles tried to stay out of it as an argument began to erupt. The Professor became irritated. "Alright, you two. That's enough. Halloween is not coming for another week, so you girls have plenty of time to prepare." Blossom calmed down. "Alright. I just wanted our costumes to look great." Buttercup sighed. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. Do you want me to help you out with my costume?" "Sure!" Blossom agreed. The Professor smiled as another feud has settled. "Oh, those are my little angels."

After dinner, the girls went up to their room to continue the costumes. Buttercup was describing her vision while Blossom was designing it as Buttercup wanted it. Bubbles was at her drawing table drawing another pretty picture. It became quiet in the room for a minute when she began to hear something outside. It sounded like carnival music booming from beyond the outskirts of Townsville. "Girls," Bubbles started, "do you hear that music?" The other girls stopped to listen. "Yeah," Buttercup replied, "what is that?" The girls looked out their windows to view the city in the distance. The music was much louder and there were light beams of orange and purple shooting up into the sky swaying back and forth. "Well, that's something out of the ordinary." Blossom commented. "Maybe the carnival is in town." Bubbles replied excitedly. "You could be right on that, Bubbles, but I've never seen a carnival go that big especially as we usually can't see it glowing in the distance. Let's check it out, girls." The girls quickly dash to the city into the glowing light as the music continued to grow louder as they tracked the source to a massive carnival just outside the city. Finally, they stood in at the entrance with eyes widened with awe of the scale and colors of the glowing wonderland. A giant signed above them read, "LARGE LEO'S SPOOKY CARNIVAL."


	2. An Unexpected Surprise

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Surprise

The girls began to explore the carnival as kiosks and booths surrounded the pathways on both sides as numerous rides and attractions towered above them. Rollercoasters, a merry-go-round, a giant Ferris wheel, and many others surrounded a large mansion what seemed to be a haunted house attraction. A sign at the attraction read, "Opening October 30," Numerous aromas filled the air mixed in with the constant noises of music and people around the girls. Lights of different colors from the kiosks and attractions lit up the sky almost like a reverse eclipse. "This is surely not a carnival I've been in. "Blossom commented, "I mean for a carnival this large. What do you think this is about, Blossom?" Buttercup stopped to think, "Perhaps, it could be for Halloween coming up in a week. I mean it's one of the most celebrated days of the year." "Hmm… Good point." Blossom agreed, "Everyone hypes up Halloween every year with all of those horror films, candy, costumes, and parties. But I haven't seen Townsville do something like this before, have you?" Buttercup shook her head. "Not to my knowledge, but it never hurts to try something new." Bubbles began to get excited. "Oh! Can we go some rides? Please?" "But I really wanted to get those costumes done, we just came down here to see what's going on." Buttercup sighed. "Come on, Blossom. You've been working on our costumes all day. Don't you want to take a little break?" Blossom thought about it for a moment, but then smiled. "Well," she started, "I guess you're right. What do you guys want to do first? The girls jumped with joy as they dashed off deeper into the wonderland to begin their adventure.

Thrills, chills, and everything from the grill. These became the ingredients for the perfect eventful night, but then came the best part after the fun, a jumbo ice cream sundae fit for three. Thus the perfect night was brought to a close as the girls finally returned home. Exhausted but with satisfied smiles on the girls faces as they finally get ready for bed. "See, Blossom" Buttercup started, "It's always good to have a break when it's needed." Blossom turned to Buttercup as they brushed their teeth. "Yeah," Blossom smiled. "Perhaps I took this costume business a little too seriously, but I'm going to continue it tomorrow morning." The girls turned out the bed and slipped into bed. "I can't wait to go back there tomorrow." Bubbles said hopefully. "Well," Blossom replied. "We'll see what can we do tomorrow. But for now, good night, girls." "Good night, Blossom." The others replied. However, as the girls fell asleep, as bright glow coming from outside with a strange noise begins to grow larger until it filled the girls room. Then, the glow quickly faded away and everything became quiet once again.


	3. The Expansion

Chapter 3: The Expansion

The next morning, the girls woke up still a little exhausted from last night's sensational event. "I wonder if anyone else at school has heard about it." Bubbles thought. "I'm not sure," Blossom replied, "I mean it was like that carnival just appeared out of thin air. I don't recall any previous announcement or anyone talking about it beforehand. Still quite strange, don't you girls think?" "I guess so." Buttercup agreed. "But you guys got to admit that it was quite a fun time we had last night." They all went downstairs to the kitchen as they found the Professor there cooking breakfast. "Good morning, girls." The Professor stated as he was frying eggs for himself. "Oh, good morning, Professor." Blossom replied. The Professor then turned to them and handed the girls a newspaper as they sat to eat. "UNKNOWN GIANT CARNIVAL APPEARS," read the main headline. "Have you all heard about this new carnival that just came into town?" The Professor asked. "Sounds fun, doesn't it? However, I don't recall something like this being mentioned earlier."

"To be honest, neither did we. We were all at the carnival last night as we could hear carnival music from our bedroom. So, we just went down there to investigate yet seemed out of the ordinary when we got there."

"Alright, but I still find it strange that something this large appeared out of nowhere."

"Agreed, Professor. This is quite a strange case indeed. We'll make sure to keep an eye on it if anything else goes on."

"Of course. But anyways, have a good day at school!"

"Okay, bye Professor!

The girls took off with a flash and reached the school in the nick of time. When they got inside, they could hear conversations going on about the mysterious carnival, plans to go there later that night, and even questions on how it got there in the first place. "Well, it seems that everyone here has heard about it now." Blossom declared as the girls floated through the hallway to their classroom. "Yeah," Bubbles agreed. "It sure came as a surprise though, but like you said last night, it never hurts to try something new." The girls took their seats, but then Mitch Mitchelson, who sat behind the girls, leaned over towards with an already answered question. "Hey, girls. Have you heard about that carnival coming into town?" "Yes, Mitch." Blossom sighed. "Practically everyone has." "But it was still awesome," Buttercup jumped in. "We got an experience of it last night. You should've been there! There was enough rides and candy to keep you coming back for more." "Wow!" Mitch exclaimed. "Count me in, tonight!" "Alrighty! We'll see you there when you can." "Hang on there, Buttercup." Blossom warned. "What about the homework and the costumes we have to finish?" "Oh right. We hope to see you there after our homework is done." "That's what I thought." Eventually, Ms. Keane arrived in the classroom and the class officially began.

Later that afternoon, the final school bell rang as everyone rushed to the front doors as the Powerpuff Girls floated right above. As they reached the sidewalk, they could overhear conversations once again about their plans tonight for the mysterious carnival. "I'm guessing we're going to see everyone down there tonight." Bubbles commented. "I guess so, but let's get our homework done first as well as some more progress on those costumes." Blossom replied. "Alright then," Buttercup sighed. "We might as well as we don't want the Professor getting mad at us about not getting our homework done. That's bad news." The Powerpuff Girls zoomed into the air and returned home quick as a flash and then dashed up to their room as the work continued as planned. They delved into the night until Blossom thought enough progress was made for that night and they took to their desired destination.

As the girls flew to the carnival, they thought something was off. "Uh, guys?" Buttercup noticed first. "Is it me, but has the carnival somehow expanded?" There seemed to be more attractions such as a massive swinging top that swings overhead, a tall tower of terror with riders ascending slowly to the top but rapidly to the ground, and other crazy rides that the girls haven't seen in their lives. The main sign has changed to a giant glowing neon sign. "LARGE LEO'S SPOOKY CARNIVAL," the sign flashed with neon colors. The girls stopped to think this new change. "Where does this 'Large Leo' get all of the money to get more attractions?" Buttercup commented. "Perhaps, he's adding more attractions to make it more exciting." Bubbles replied. "Hmmm…" Blossom thought for a moment, "Perhaps, Bubbles. He might have ordered these attractions previously, but they couldn't make it last night. We better keep an closer eye on this carnival as something is starting to seem off about this. Let's check the hours on this carnival." The girls dashed below the sign to find the hours. "FROM SUNSET TO MIDNIGHT, OCTOBER 24TH TO OCTOBER 31ST," read the sign. "Alright," Blossom started, "we'll get to the bottom of this if things continue to get stranger." "Right," the other two obliged. "Now let's get into the fun." Buttercup exclaimed. "I bet Mitch is somewhere waiting for us." Eventually, they found Mitch along with some other kids from school and their fun began once again.

Eventually, around 9 PM, the crew came out exhausted and exhilarated from the thrills they experience again. "Thanks for joining us, Buttercup." Mitch commented as he and his posse left the carnival. "We'll see you guys tomorrow!" Blossom and Buttercup waved to them when they realized that Bubbles wasn't with them. They ascended to get a full view of the carnival and noticed that Bubbles as standing at the haunted house attraction. They dashed down to go get her. "BOO!" Buttercup shouted, which caused Bubbles to jump and scream. "Buttercup! Knock it off!" Blossom scolded as she came to Bubbles' side. "Bubbles? What's the matter?" Bubbles turned to face the dark and decrepit attraction. The house stood quietly as the loud noises from the rest of the carnival continued around it. "Something about it is not right." Bubbles started. "It's like someone's in there watching us. I want to go home now." Blossom gave her hug. "It's okay, Bubbles. It's probably just your imagination. Let's go home." The girls dashed into the night and finally returned home. They were getting ready for bed when Bubbles was lying in bed looking out at the window with a worried look on her face. Blossom came to her again. "You're still thinking about that house?" Bubbles shook her head. "Look, you don't have to enter that house if you don't want to." Blossom gave her a hug as the girls got under the covers. "Good night, girls." Blossom declared. "Good night." The other two replied. However, as the other two girls tried to get some sleep, Bubbles turned her head to the window and stared out the window as the carnival continued to glow into the distance as the. "There's something wrong with that carnival." She thought to herself. "There's something in that house. Watching. Waiting." She covered her head under the blankets and eventually dozed off.


	4. A Warning

Chapter 4: A Warning

The girls were sleeping peacefully when a sudden cold chill caught onto Bubbles causing her to wake up. She rose up when she realized that she wasn't in the room anymore, but instead the center of the carnival. However, its entirety surrounding her seemed lonely, decrepit, and lugubrious. Bubbles began to shiver like a leaf in the wind from the sight. "Girls." She began to shake the other girls, but to no avail. "Girls!" She shouted, but still no answer. It was as if they were nothing than plastic mannequins. As she continued to get her sisters' attention, she began to feel a warmth as a crimson red glow grew behind her. Bubbles turned to find the source and noticed that it was coming from the haunted house attraction she saw earlier that night. Before she could make her own decision, the glow grew even larger and caught her into a trance. She floated though the dismal setting as the wind howled through the air. As Bubbles reached the porch, everything became silent once again. Slowly and quietly, the door to the house creaked open and Bubbles entered the darkness that awaited her inside.

The interior was nearly dark except some candles that lit up some parts in the main hallway. The walls were painted with the same color of the anonymous glow from outside. Suddenly, lightning struck outside that lit up the room with a quick flash as thunder roared and rain began pouring down louder than a hailstorm. At this point, Bubbles finally snapped out of the cursed trance as she began looking around, almost panicking, and bolted for the front door. However, the door immediately slammed shut and then morphed itself to become part of the wall. The windows followed the same thing until the house became dark as death. Bubbles quickly grabbed a candle to find her way through the tenebrosity. Thunder continued through to clap its hands from outside as Bubbles began to suffer a case of trepidation as goosebumps ran through her body. She then noticed stepping onto a long red carpet almost like a path. "Perhaps I can find a way out if I follow." She thought to herself as she began to traverse down the path.

The hallways were long enough to feel like one was running through an endless hallway. However, the hallway began to glow with bright hues of red, blue, and purple and Bubbles now and again getting the feeling that someone was stalking her within the darkness close behind. She then picked up the pace a little every now and then until she was almost sprinting to escape. However, a dead end was reached when Bubbles begins to panic, but when she saw a window that seemed to lead back outside. She frantically attempted to break the window open, but nothing happened even with her hands starting to feel numb. The window began to melt away as it was all an insidious trick. "Nice try…" a voice from behind giggled. Bubbles slowly began to turn around when a claw rapidly grabbed her from behind and a bloodcurdling growl thundered through the house.

Bubbles swung up from her bed screaming at the top of lungs nearly bursting them. "Bubbles!" Blossom rushed toward her side trying to snap her out of it. "Get it off of me!" Bubbles screamed repeatedly as she began to swing her arms and legs trying to fight off the monster in her mind. Blossom tried to hold her down as Buttercup rushed in to help. Bubbles punched the two in the face sending them flying across the room. Suddenly, Bubbles calmed down realizing that it was already morning, but still breathing heavily. The Professor raced into the room. "Girls! What's going on!?" Bubbles looked confused on what just happened looking over the minor damage she caused to her sisters. She then rushed over to hug her sisters as she began to cry. "Oh girls! It's the carnival! There's something wrong with that haunted house!" The Professor tried to calm her down. "It's alright, Bubbles. It was just a bad dream." He then picked her up and hugged her. "Yeah," Buttercup commented, "a pretty bad dream after throwing us across the room." Blossom stood up and came to Bubbles. "Bubbles. Was it about that haunted house attraction you saw last night?" Bubbles shook her head. "Yes. I don't want to go anywhere that place ever again." Buttercup turned to the Professor after thinking for a minute. "I'm starting to get a feeling that this could be warning. Perhaps like Déjà vu." Blossom turned to Buttercup with a look of confusion. "How can that be a premonition?" "I don't know. It's just a thought that popped up." "Well, whatever the case might be. We're going back down there tonight to see if we can get our hands on the guy, Large Leo." The Professor nodded to Blossom's decision, but Bubbles was still slightly shaking in Professor's arms and let out a tear of knowing that her dream was a confirmation of something was definitely wrong.


	5. The Investigation

Chapter 5: The Investigation

After school, the girls flew back home to begin planning their investigation on the mysterious Large Leo. Blossom got out a white board as the other two sat and watched. "Alright, girls." Blossom began, "After Bubbles little crazy nightmare last night, I'm beginning to suspect that something could be wrong about this carnival." Buttercup looked in confusion. "How can you come to this conclusion over a crazy dream Bubbles had? I mean that haunted house attraction looked quite spooky to be honest, but how can this spark a conclusion like that?" "I don't know, okay!" Blossom argued. "After the sudden expansion of the carnival and now that incident this morning with Bubbles, don't you think that there's something bad that's going to happen?" Buttercup sighed to her response. "I mean probably, but it's unlikely for something supernatural could be involved in something that's friendly to the eye." "There's that saying you know that looks can be deceiving so we have to be sure about this could be another villain working behind the curtains planning another trap." Bubbles began to get frightened by the arguing and clenched on Octi tightly until it seemed to have died down. "Alright." Buttercup started again, "What are we going to do about this Large Lo, Lou or whatever his name is?" "First off, his name is Large Leo. Secondly, I don't want to take him on with hostility until we're entirely sure as you can be too careful when solving a mystery. So, later tonight, we're going back there as soon as the gates open for tonight and we'll be there when the gates close again for the night. Does that sound like a plan?" The other two nodded, but Bubbles began to fear of what was to come soon.

When they arrived later at sunset, a big crowd was gathered at the gates of the carnival when they encountered a plump man standing in front of the crowd. He was wearing a colorful suit of purple and orange and a hat of strange colors. He was also seen wearing white makeup like a clown. He smiled to the crowd as it cheered for the next opening. "Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen," The man declared. "Are all you ready for another night of thrills and excitement?" The crowd cheered in approval and excitement. "Then the thrills begin!" The man opened the gates and the crowd charged onto the carnival grounds as the man walked in with them and disappeared in the crowd. "Why don't we talk to him?" Blossom started, "He might be our suspect, Large Leo." The girls flew down closer to the crowd to try to find him, but for some reason, they couldn't find them. It was as if he just vanished out of existence. "Where did he go?" Buttercup began to complain. "We just had him and now he's gone!" Blossom thought up a quick plan. "Alright. How about all of us split up?" They all agreed and dashed through the grounds. After flying around for a minute of searching, Bubbles decided to go on foot and look around as he may be in one of the booths or kiosk. She then saw a tent glowing with bright neon colors that were constantly changing. Dance music was booming from inside. It seemed unlikely that he would be there, but one could never be too careful.

Bubbles went through the curtains and the music was louder than ever, but sounded familiar to her. She went through the crowd, in which were all dancing quite randomly, and tried to make to the front of it all. "Excuse me. Excuse me." She mumbled. As she made it, she could see a DJ playing the music and scratching away at a record in tune with the music. Leo wasn't in sight, but things began to seem off when taking a closer look at the crowd dancing. Some of the dancers look like they were spazzing out rather than dancing. Although she couldn't be sure of it, but Bubbles thought she could hear screaming in the crowd almost as if someone was being taken against his or her will. Bubbles dashed out of there quick as a flash. Coincidentally, Blossom and Buttercup were outside. "There you are!" Blossom declared. "We were looking for you. I'm guessing you couldn't find Large Leo either." Bubbles shook her head. "How can a fat man like him can quickly disappear like that?" Buttercup commented irritatingly. "Unless we're dealing with something supernatural?" Blossom replied. "I mean it does seem like we could be dealing with something more than meets our eyes."

Bubbles turned her head again to that dark and decrepit attraction once again as something began to seem connected to everything. Bubbles raced toward the haunted house as the other girls raced right behind her. "Bubbles! Where you are going?" Buttercup called out as Bubbles made it and began to find a window to the interior. "Bubbles, what are you doing?" Blossom asked. "I'm trying to look inside." Bubbles quickly answered back, "This could be the source." The interior was black as death almost as if they were covered up by something. However, they could hear something going on inside. "Hmm…" Blossom thought for a minute, "Alright, let's stick around here until the carnival closes down for the night." So, the girls waited and interacted with the attractions to pass the time. Finally, roughly a minute before Midnight the girls took off above and looked down at the grounds to find their suspect once again. The people were given the announcement that it was time to leave and the grounds became barren once again. However, they noticed a man locking up the gates that looked like the man they saw earlier that night. "There he is." Blossom whispered, "Let's go." The girls dashed towards the man as he was getting ready to leave. "Excuse me, Sir." Blossom started. "We're looking for a man by the name of Large Leo, are you him?" The man smiled with quite a large grin. "Yes. I am him. You're the Powerpuff Girls, aren't you? How can I help you girls?" The girls became weirded out with that grin, almost as if he was trying planning something rather unpleasant in his head. "Ummm…" Blossom replied. "We've been looking around the carnival recently and there have been some things that seem suspicious."

"Oh dear. That doesn't seem right for a cheery place like this."

"Well, we noticed since the second day that the carnival has been expanding across the grounds and even upgrades to some of the attractions themselves. Also, the haunted house attraction has been giving my sister, Bubbles, here a little bit of a fright last night. What is that about and when do plan on opening it?"

"Oh! I decided to have more rides added in to gather some more attention and to get some anticipation for Halloween. Everyone loves that holiday, don't they? Especially kids like you if I'm not mistaken. The Haunted House attraction might be opened a little bit earlier than planned because of all of the positive reactions so far."

"Okay then, we'll be looking forward for that. You have a good night, Mr. Leo."

"Yes! Good night, girls. I hope to see you again tomorrow night for some more fun."

The girls took off for home, but when Bubbles turned to look back at Leo, it seemed that his grin stretched even further, and his eyes widened as he continued to wave at her. Bubbles grew fearful once again and looked away dashing even faster than her sisters back home.


	6. Pieces of the Puzzle

Chapter 6: Pieces of the Puzzle

Bubbles kept feeling that her premonition shall become reality in almost no time like a whisper continuing to grow louder and louder. Even that wicked smile that Leo gave almost felt like a dead giveaway for one attempt to keep innocence among his personality yet was it really what the man intended? Bubbles wondered about it as she stares at the glowing beams from the carnival out the window. "Bubbles?" Blossom snapped her back into reality as they were now working on Bubbles' costume. "Huh? What?" Bubbles replied as Blossom handed her a design of Bubbles' costume. It shows Bubbles in a beautiful dress white as snow. On her head, she was wearing bunny ears and a tiara with a little gemstone in the middle that matched her eyes. Her hair was all down instead of the usual pigtails. The drawing also depicted Bubbles in a meadow with a couple bunnies around with even one on her shoulder as she hugged it. "Aww," Bubbles smiled, "It's beautiful, Blossom. I love it!" Blossom became delighted for her approval. "Thanks! It's still a work in progress." "Oh ok, I hope the final design will look great."

However, Bubbles continued to look out the window when Blossom began to look worried about her odd behavior. "Bubbles? What's the matter?" Bubbles began to look scared. "Well, after talking with that man, he gave me this scary grin and his eyes widened. It's like he's planning something." Blossom thought about it for a moment. "Hmmm… I do remember him saying something about that haunted house attraction to be opening up soon." Buttercup became confused about her thought. "So? What's the problem with that?" "I'm just thinking," Blossom started, "That something evil could lurking in that attraction. I mean it might make sense that Leo is planning something in there until the time is right to strike."

Buttercup shrugged. "Perhaps, but it's a haunted house attraction, it's supposed to look out of place from all of the cheery environments. What do you think, Bubbles?"

Bubbles looked over, but she began to look pale about the mentioning of it. Eventually, she nodded. "Yes, but I don't want go near it that scary place. But…" Blossom looked confused. "But what, Bubbles?" Bubbles sighed. "I keep gaining a feeling that the house is calling out to me. Even when we were at the carnival with Mitch, it felt that someone or something was in that house staring at me and then putting me in a hypnotized state." Blossom thought about this and then turned to Buttercup. "Perhaps you were right about this, Buttercup." "Right about what?" Buttercup asked slightly confused. "I mean you could be right on the premonition after Bubbles had her little nightmare last night. Even with her fear of it, it could've set off something in her mind to know something isn't right."

"What do you mean about that?"

"Well, have you ever got that sick feeling in your stomach?"

"Yeah, I guess so. The cold chill run down your spine?"

"Of course, like goosebumps. Yet I've never experienced anything like this with Bubbles going into a trance about it."

Blossom comes over to Bubbles on the bed as Buttercup comes to her other side. Bubbles began to feel cold and started to shiver. They could even see her turn slightly paler as she began to look out the window with widened eyes. Blossom got increasingly worried. "Bubbles, you're shaking like a leaf!"

"Close the windows."

"What?"

"Close the windows!"

Bubbles began screaming as Buttercup quickly granted her request while Blossom attempted to comfort her. Bubbles hugged Blossom nearly squeezing her to death as she started to cry. Blossom had to break free from her and got her into bed. "Bubbles, calm down. We'll be getting to the bottom of this as soon we can." Blossom then turns to Buttercup.

"This is getting more serious than I thought it would be."

"Perhaps even though we deal with monsters nearly every day."

"That doesn't matter right now. We need to find this source quickly before Bubbles gets even more traumatized about whatever is there. As for right now, I don't want Bubbles going anywhere near that place. She has seen enough. However, I want you to continue this investigation tomorrow night. I want to keep her company as I finish up the costumes."

"Alright, if you say so."

"I mean it, Buttercup. I need you to look around the place again and don't do any fooling around there, understand?"

"Ok, ok!"

The girls got ready for bed, turned out the lights, and trying to sleep yet Blossom turned to notice that Bubbles is still showing a frightened look. "It's alright, Bubbles," Blossom whispered, "It will all be over soon, okay?" Bubbles nodded as Blossom turned back to get some sleep. Eventually, they all doze off. However, as things finally became quiet, the wall above the girls' bed began to deform with a blob stretching out. It bent over the girls and began to stare at them will glowing eyes that constantly changed colors and began to reach out at them with a long claw, but the entity quickly went back into the wall as Bubbles tossed around in the bed. She sat up for a minute and looked around only to find nothing. Eventually, she was able to fall asleep as the room became silent once again.


	7. The Mischief

Chapter 7: The Mischief

Buttercup floated around the carnival grounds only find the usual sights, people talking or screaming in delight, bright colorful lights illuminating from the rides and kiosks, and delicious goodies being served to the folks. She then came forward to the closed haunted house attraction and examined it from top to bottom. All was quiet around it, which gave it an eerie mood, except for a constant dark ambient noise surrounding the attraction. Chills ran up Buttercup's spine as she continued to look around at her surroundings. "Ugh!" She shivered. "Bubbles definitely knows the definition of creepy." She made her way to the front staircase leading up to the porch of the house that stood in between two posts of black horse heads with darkened crimson eyes. However, upon closer inspection, she realizes that one of the eyes of the right horse head is missing, but it was like someone had torn the head open to pull the eye out and stick it back the way it was.

Suddenly, Buttercup got the strange feeling that someone was watching her, but doesn't know where it's coming from. "Hello?" Buttercup called out. "Who's there?" Then a familiar face appeared from the shadows. "Buttercup?" The voice called out. "Mitch?" Buttercup replied. Mitch came closer to her.

"What are you doing out here? Are you trying to get a peek inside that spooky mansion?"

"Not exactly. Bubbles for some reason hasn't been herself after this carnival opened. Blossom sent me here to investigate if there's anything out of place. I don't know what's going on, but she says that everything evil is in this house."

"Well, she can be scared easily."

"Heh. That's what I keep thinking, but I still wonder what's in there."

"Hey! Want to peek?"

"Nah, that would ruin the surprise."

"Oh well. But I got something better planned."

Mitch showed a sickening grin as he pulled out a paper bag with something inside. Buttercup at first showed a confused look, but then a foul smell came to Buttercup and realization hit her. Buttercup giggled at Mitch's plan.

"It's not even Mischief Night yet."

"Oh, come on! An early prank never hurts."

Later that night, the two of them went back to Pokey Oaks as Mitch went up to a porch, lit the bag up with a lighter, rang the door and quickly ran into a bush where Buttercup was there hiding as well. They both snickered and waited. "I sure hope this works." Buttercup whispered. "Oh, I can guarantee it." Mitch replied. "I saw someone else do this in a video." Suddenly, an elderly man stepped out onto the porch and looked down at the growing blaze from the bag. Panicking, he stomped on the fire, but then the foul odor filled the air around him. He looked down at his sock to find the brown muck from the bag oozing onto the ground. "DOODEEE!" He screamed as Buttercup dashed off in a flash carrying Mitch both beginning to howl with laughter. Eventually, Buttercup landed near Mitch's house as both were still catching their breath from the laughter.

"Oh man! That was awesome, Mitch!"

"Well, what did I tell you?"

"Oh shoot! I better get home. I'm not supposed to be out this later. I'll talk to you later."

Buttercup waved goodbye to Mitch and dashed off home as he waved back. Then he set off for home. Luckily, he wasn't too far from his house and he chose to take a short cut through a trailer park that lead to the other side of the neighborhood. However, as he began to traverse through the trailer park, he noticed that something was off. It was quiet unlike every other day when it would be loud and rambunctious. "Perhaps everyone's asleep." He thought as he noticed that the lights were off. Suddenly, the wind began to blow heavily causing the trailers behind Mitch to creak. A cold chill ran up his spine as he felt the sharply cold wind on his body.

BANG! BANG!

Mitch became startled and looked up to find the crazy old man, Jonas, up on the trailer dancing like a madman at the full moon. Mitch sighed and dashed off home, but unknowingly a shadow crawling underneath each trailer he passes following him up to his house. It waited until the lights of his house were turned off when it finally came closer to reach its next target.

Meanwhile, Buttercup returned to her room to see that Bubbles was asleep and Blossom was finishing up the costumes for the night. "I was about to wonder where you were." Blossom commented. "Did you find anything interesting?" Buttercup shook her head.

"Nope. I did check the haunted house attraction, and nothing was out of the ordinary. However, do you know about those horse heads at the staircases?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, for some reason, one of them was missing an eye. It was like someone else wanted to play a little game of vandalism on this ride. I'm not sure why though."

"Usually, there's no reason for vandalism. It could've just have been a prankster."

"A super strong prankster I'd say as it was like he or she must have ripped the horse head open, take the eye out, and then quickly back into place.

"Hmmm. Very interesting."

Blossom began to yawn, and both girls agreed that it was time for bed. They got their pajamas on, brushed their teeth, and finally went to sleep. However, as the other two girls finally dozed off, Bubbles began to tremble and whimper in a cold sweat.


	8. A Clue in the Mind

Chapter 8: A Clue in the Mind

A dark purple hue was all that lit up the sky above her like a dim candlelight. Bubbles stood in what seemed to be a desolate field with the howling of wind surrounding her as she looked around the cold environment. However, in the distance, she noticed beams of light that shot up in the sky and swayed back and forth. Curiosity held a tight grasp on Bubbles as she dashed down the field to locate the source of the beams. In the distance was the carnival still glowing as the previous nights with music being heard. Yet the rest of its surroundings were the remains dark, quiet, and desolate city as if no one had occupied it for years. She took a few more steps when she looked down to find dirt on her shoe. Swiping the filth off her toe, she began to stand once more but came to realization that the source was a mound of it. The mound was if someone or something had been buried there recently. There was also another mound to the right of the first one. Bubbles walked between the mounds and found what resembled two tombstones. The dimness of the sky made nearly impossible to see what the names, if there were any, were engraved. However, a breeze blew a scent of pepper and flowers in her face. Her eyes widened to a conclusion she couldn't come to bear. "No…" She whispered as she began to tear up. Kneeling, she began to fully weep as everything around her became silent. It was almost as if she was in a small room rather than an open field.

Suddenly, a slow chuckle then howled through the air and Bubbles shot up in an instant. A tall figure stood in behind the two graves. It had a slightly round body with a large head. It had sharp claws and toes making this silhouette seem to be an animal rather than human. Then, a red glow began to illuminate from its eyes. Then under the glow, there's what seemed to be a grin beginning to stretch across its face. Tears continued to slowly pour on her face, but now with fear battling her sorrow. "What are you?" She cried. The animal continued to stare at her motionless until it finally spoke. "Why I'm the ringleader here, my child," it chuckled. "I run the carnival of the world where you should be having a memorable adventure. Someone like you shouldn't be wandering here alone."

"What are these stones here for?"

"Unfortunately, there are those who attempt to stop our fun. Don't worry about them and come with us for some joy and wonder."

"You've killed them for a decision they wanted to make, why should I ever continue!?"

Bubbles attempted to charge at the animal when she was quickly stopped and couldn't move any further. She turned to look behind and found two large white hands grasping her. Then they slowly began to drag her down into a hole previously dug for her burial. Bubbles began to scream for help with loud giggling began to roar through the field. As she looked one last time, she could see the animal continuing to stare at her with the grin and children stood surrounding her grave. They all had the palest faces she had seen with torn clothes and blank faces. She continued to sink further and further down until darkness consumed her vision, but with a flash she swung up to find herself in a bedroom once again.

Blossom and Buttercup were sitting in front as if they were expecting this to happen. "I'm guessing you had another one of them?" Buttercup asked. Bubbles shook her head as Blossom quickly pulled out a small notebook with a pencil and turned it to a blank page. "Alright, Bubbles," Blossom began to explain, "what we are going to do is we're going to start a dream journal. You can describe to me what you saw in the nightmare and you can also draw what you saw in it too, okay?" Bubbles nodded her head again as Blossom got ready to take write down Bubble's story.

"Can you describe what you saw?"

"Yes. It was a dark and spooky night in the ruins of Townsville. That carnival, it was still glowing with music echoing all around me."

"Did you go down there?"

"No. I was occupied with the cemetery I was standing in."

"A cemetery?"

"I was standing all around these graves and I…"

"What?"

"I saw your graves."

Blossom and Buttercup were speechless at her comment, but nevertheless they attempted to continue of what happened. They turned around for a second and it talked about it to themselves. "It's really getting worse." Buttercup commented. Blossom at first shook her head but then commented. "Perhaps there's something in here that can give us a clue of who is behind all of this." They turned back and continued their conversation with Bubbles. Blossom got back to her journal.

"Alright. What happened next?"

"I began to cry when there was this monster with a large grin began to giggle."

"Did it say anything to you?"

"It claimed that it was the Ringmaster of the carnival and it would kill anyone that stood in the way of the joy that this attraction could give him. I was then pulled down to a grave as the monster and these children stood around the hole. But there was one in on of the corners that looked almost like Boomer."

"Boomer?"

"Yeah, I don't know why he was there but maybe it mean that he could be connected to this attraction as well."

Buttercup sat back for a minute as a thought popped into her head. "The horse's missing eye…" She thought to herself. "Perhaps he could be connected." Blossom was still writing down what Bubbles saw.

"So, is that everything you saw last night?"

"Yes."

"Alright, thank you, Bubbles. You've been a big help."

Blossom closed the journal and then hands it to Bubbles.

"Now when you have another dream, you can write it down in this journal, okay?"

Bubbles shook her head in agreement as she put it in the first drawer of the nightstand by her side of the bed. As she closed the drawer she got this dreaded feeling that something is wrong again. "Blossom," Bubbles started, "what day is it today?" Blossom looked at the calendar as she was leaving the room. "Oh, it's October 29, why do you ask?"

"We need to find this guy fast. I'm scared that Halloween will really be ruined this year."

"Oh, Bubbles. We'll find who or what is responsible for this madness no matter how deadly it can be. Come on downstairs for breakfast. We have to be at school in an hour."

"Okay, I'll be right down there."

Blossom left the room as Bubbles went back to her nightstand and pulled the journal out of the drawer. She opened it up and looked inside for Blossom's notes. At the bottom of the notes, she wrote "Day 2" and underlined it. "Just in case," she thought to herself and she went downstairs to join her sisters for breakfast.


End file.
